Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will attend that meeting and I will do the best I can to persuade the European Union and the European Council to adopt a common position. It may not be possible for us to adopt a common position. We do not have a single foreign policy across the European Union. We all have our independent foreign policies, which is something I know that Deputy McDonald supports, but I will certainly do the best I can to persuade our colleagues in other European countries to agree a common European position.

I will not tell them. That is a very particular approach. The approach the Deputy might adopt as Taoiseach would be to attend the meeting, point the finger, tell people off and hold a press conference afterwards. That is not how you do this job. It is not how you get things done in international affairs. You have to build relationships, partnerships, alliances and develop colleagues and try to use your powers of persuasion. This is particularly the case for a small country like Ireland, which is not a major economic or political power. We use the power of persuasion, reputation and contacts. That is how we do things and how we achieve things.

In the past two weeks in Gaza, we have seen a dreadful expression of violence. It has not just been in Gaza but also in Israel, where 1,400 civilians, including Israeli citizens and citizens from other states, were killed. Let us not forget that one of our own citizens was killed by Hamas in Israel. Her family come from County Laois. Since then, terrible violence and aggression have been witnessed in Gaza, where more than 5,000 people have been killed, very many of them children. We have our own citizens there for whom we are particularly concerned. These include a young boy, whom the Deputy may have seen on television last night, who is there on an extended holiday with his family. We are very keen to see if we can get our passport holders out as quickly as possible.

We are calling for a de-escalation. There is no military solution to this conflict, which has been going on now for more than 75 years. We fear that what is happening will spread to other parts of the Middle East and, indeed, may express itself on the streets of Europe in terms of violent acts, particularly violent acts of Islamic terrorism. We have already seen two examples of that in Belgium and France. We are calling for a humanitarian ceasefire that will allow aid to get into the Gaza Strip and foreign passport holders and refugees to get out. We are calling for all sides to observe this ceasefire, and I hope we all agree on this. This is the view I will be taking to the European Council later in the week. We are also calling on Hamas to give up all of the hostages. It is not acceptable to take hostages. Hamas should return all of the hostages to their homes and lay down its arms. It is a terrorist organisation, not a state. Again, I hope the Deputy will agree with this call.

While we accept and agree that Israel has the right to defend itself and to go after Hamas, the way it does so matters. It has to do it only in accordance with international humanitarian law. That is important for Israel's future security and its international relations.

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